From Software to Energy Efficiency | Hacker News Reader

From Software to Energy Efficiency

energysavvy.com

38 pointsaarong13 comments

I made the jump from online advertising to clean tech. It was not easy to re-start my professional network and learn all the new domain knowledge, but it paid off in being able to work in an industry that I really care about.

I'm 6 weeks into the exact same jump and I couldn't possibly be happier that I took it. My impressions thus far is that the industry is growing unimaginably quickly. I'm thrilled to get to be a part of it!

Could you go into detail about what you're doing now and what you were doing before?

I'm a GIS (geographic information systems) developer working for the state government and I'm pretty miserable in my day job. I've been thinking about what I could do in the green tech sector.

I've worked in online advertising for 5 years and have been toying around with the same idea for a while now. What did you start doing? If you've got time wouldn't mind asking you a few q's? My email's dharmaone att googles mail service

It's great to work at the intersection of technology and energy efficiency. You get the short-term warm fuzzies one gets when working for a non-profit org. but with the possibility of a significantly better upside long term. All kinds of wins in the clean tech space.

If we apply the same level of innovation around cleantech as we have around optimizing the flow of information about Kendra's post-baby weight, we could turn the world around. Persevere, people.

I feel exactly the same way. Online advertising is cool in that its fast moving and intellectually challenging. Which is not to sneeze at compare to other options. And yet. And yet. It would be awesome to wake up every morning and have both head and heart aligned and be so energized about what you're doing.

As I learn more about running a startup, I can see what a great plan the EnergySavvy guys have in terms of generating leads for greentech contractors using their excellent software tools. I think it's something other entrepreneurs in any category can learn from.

This post does a great job of highlighting how clean tech is more than just a new industry buzzword. There are real, interesting problems that software developers can help to solve in this space. Hopefully, more people will make the jump.

love the post, and the variety of ways for folks to get involved -- seems like they're primarily tech/dev-related opportunities (per the title), but i'm wondering where product folks can/will have the biggest impact...

You guys are in a great position to take advantage of the opportunity when energy costs take off (again!) and everyone starts looking for solutions and costs savings. Should add plenty of demand for your solution...

Great new area for developers to enter. Especially if you want to believe and care about the work you doing.

Hot list of resources for energy hackers.

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